Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the US state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis is the largest city in the state, with a metro area population of 1,341,746 people in 2015. The city was founded in 1819 by a group of wealthy Americans, including Andrew Jackson, and it was named for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. The city developed as a major slave market, and the Irish population increased from 9.9% in 1850 to 23.2% in 1860 due to increased migration. On 6 June 1862, the Union captured Memphis from the Confederacy during the American Civil War by means of a naval attack, and the city saw tensions between Irish mobs and occupying African-American US Army troops, leading to 1866 riots that left 46 blacks dead. During Reconstruction, Memphis was controlled by the Democratic Party, and it became home to the cotton and lumber markets during the 20th century. The city became the largest on the Mississippi River, and it is the second-largest metro area in the state, after Nashville.